Industri Kapital exits Laho Equipement

Industri Kapital (“IK”)  has signed an agreement to sell Laho Equipement (“Laho”), one of France’s  leading construction equipment rental groups, to Barclays Private Equity (“BPE”) for €110 million.

Laho is the third largest construction equipment rental company in France with 700 employees and revenues of €115 million. 

IK acquired Laho in June 2000. Under IK’s stewardship, Laho has increased its national network of outlets from 72 to 110 both through organic growth and add-on acquisitions. As part of the investment strategy to focus on rental, Laho’s distribution business was divested between 2002 and 2004 resulting in a doubling of its EBITA margin over the period.

The exit of Laho is IK’s third French realisation and follows the successful exits of Fives-Lille and Labeyrie. In December 2004, IK acquired Idex, France’s largest independent energy and environment services company.

Christopher Masek, Partner of Industri Kapital, commented: “We are very pleased with the strategic development that Laho has made under our ownership.  Laho is now a pure-play rental group with an extensive national network. Serge Ansaldo and his team have done an excellent job in securing Laho’s continued competitiveness and success during a time of challenging market conditions”.

Serge Ansaldo, Chief Executive of Laho, commented: “IK has been a very good partner for us over the last few years as the company has implemented a clear, focussed strategic plan. Their support and experience from the previous investments in the construction equipment sector allowed us to better identify potential and unlock profit. Laho is now well positioned to play an instrumental role in consolidating the French equipment rental market. Our new partners, BPE, will actively support us in implementing this strategy”.

Guillaume Jacqueau, Managing Director of Barclays Private Equity France, adds: “Laho is a strong player with a solid positioning on a consolidating market. Barclays Private Equity France and the management team of Laho, strongly committed in the transaction, share the same objective of  accelerating the development of the group in its core business of rental, both through internal and external growth.”

The transaction is subject to approvals from competition authorities.

For more information, please contact:

Industri Kapital:
Christopher Masek: +44 778 756 87 40         
Anne Nguyen: +33 1 53 67 12 80

Barclays Private Equity France:
Stéphanie Tabouis / Valérie Dudoit : +33 1 44 43 78 99

Legal and tax advisors of IK : Pierre Jouglard
Legal and tax advisors of Laho Equipement : Bureau Francis Lefebvre (Bruno Peillon)
Legal and tax advisors of Barclays Private Equity France : SJ Berwin (Maxence Bloch, William Robert)
 
Financial Due diligence: PWC (Eric Douheret, Géraud de Riberolles)
Strategic Due diligence : Arthur D. Little (Vincent Bamberger, Nicolas Bouverot)
Insurance due diligence: ACBS (Bertrand de Sailly)
Environmental due diligence: URS (Bertrand Latrobe, Stephen Engleman)

Financing is arranged by RBS (François Guichot-Pérère, Claire Frelaut).

Industri Kapital : Christopher Masek, Dan Soudry, Rémi Buttiaux

Barclays Private Equity France : Guillaume Jacqueau, Thomas Grob, Grégoire Châtillon